Will you or won't you?
by White Firebird
Summary: Leonard is gone and Penny is now left to think about their relationship. What will she do for the next four months? She knows one thing...it's going to be a long, long summer. Set after "The Bon Voyage Reaction".
1. prologue

**Hey everyone! I'm trying my hand at another BBT fic...this idea came to me after watching the season 6 finale. I'm still fairly new at writing the characters so I hope I did them justice. Hope it's not too bad! Enjoy! =)**

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Penny sighed as she stared out the window of her apartment, looking down at the busying streets of Pasadena, watching car after car zip by in an orderly fashion. Here she was, sitting idly by on a Saturday night with no plans whatsoever. Saturday nights were usually reserved for…she didn't want to think about it too much right now. It had only been two days but it felt more like two years to her. It was hard enough losing him to something like this once, but _twice?_ She had no idea how she was going to get through these four months without Leonard around. At least this time, Howard, Bernadette, Raj, Amy and Sheldon were all around, and for that she was incredibly thankful, but still.

None of them were the man she loved.

Looking over at the clock, she blinked when she saw the time. 8:45 and here she was with nothing to do. Howard and Bernadette were out with her parents. Sheldon and Amy were on their monthly date night. And since Raj could now talk to women without the aid of alcohol, he was out at bars looking to find someone special for himself. She wasn't going to look for pity or anything like that though. Bernadette went without Howard for close to five months and he was up in space, not on some boat on the North Sea. She could get through this. She knew she could. She had her best friends all around to help her through it all. She tried her best to ignore that little feeling of doubt that was constantly gnawing away at her.

Moving over to her couch, she grabbed the remote and began to flip through the channels, her boredom growing with each crappy infomercial and rerun that appeared before her eyes. Just when she was about to reach her wits end, she heard a soft knock at the door. When she didn't hear two more knocks followed up by her name being called out, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Who is it?", she asked aloud as she flipped through another set of channels, rolling her eyes once more. It was getting to be ridiculous now.

"Penny? It's me, Amy. Can I come in?", she heard the neurobiologist ask from behind the door. When she didn't immediately respond, she heard Amy sigh and speak out again. "Don't worry, Sheldon's not with me, he's across the hall."

"Come on in then, the door's open", she responded as she watched Amy enter and give her a small wave before being joined on the couch. The two of them remained that way for a few moments, in silence as they watched the television. Penny had finally settled on a viewing of The Dark Knight, something she knew that Leonard would be no doubt thrilled about if he were here to witness it. It made her feel happy and sad all at once.

"Hey…how're you holding up?", Amy asked after a few more moments of silence passed. When Penny gave her a sideways glance, she continued on. "I only ask because you're watching Batman, and I know you'd only normally watch something like that if Leonard was around…"

Penny turned her attention from the television to Amy and blinked once more. It didn't really settle into her head until she heard Christian Bale yell something incoherent into a thug's face that she was indeed watching something that she'd only be caught dead watching with Leonard. Closing her eyes and shaking her head for a moment, she let another sigh escape her lips as she settled deeper into her couch and started wondering again just how she'd survive four months without him.

"I guess I'm doing okay. I'm still struggling with getting used to the fact that I can't go across the hall and see his smile for the next four months. But it's not like I haven't dealt with this before…", she said, trailing off, remembering just four short years ago how brutal it was to not only not have Leonard around, but also Sheldon, Raj and Howard too. She had no choice but to throw herself into working at the Cheesecake Factory every day, trying her best to ignore the void that the four of them left. It was looking like she had no choice but to do the same thing again now.

She had been trying to tell herself that it wasn't as bad now that it was only Leonard who was gone, but she knew deep down that she was kidding herself. She didn't feel the way she did for him four years ago that she did now. She _loved_ him. She had told him as much without any fear or hesitation in her voice. And the look on his face when she told him that was priceless. So she was just supposed to act like everything was going to be okay? She didn't know how she'd manage to pull that off.

"I can only imagine how you must feel right now, bestie", Amy replied, placing her hand delicately on her best friend's shoulder. She didn't dare think how altered her life would be right now had it been Sheldon who went on that expedition instead of Leonard. "Don't worry though. You still have me and Bernadette and the guys. And besides, it's only four months! Before you know it, he'll be back in a flash and everything will be A-Okay again."

Penny looked to Amy and gave her a light smile. She knew her "bestie" was trying her best to make a crappy situation better any way she could, and she really appreciated it, but it still didn't change the fact that she wasn't going to be waking up to Leonard's arms wrapped protectively around her body for the time being. You couldn't just replace something like that at the snap of a finger. Now she was starting to get depressed again…

"Yeah. I'm sure everything will be fine. I have all of you guys around to pick me up...hey, can I ask you a question, Ames?"

"Sure, what's up?"

Penny looked around nervously, as if she was expecting Leonard to appear out of thin air right in front of her. She wasn't so sure she should be divulging this tidbit of information to Amy, fearing that she then might turn around and tell Sheldon, who would then be unable to keep the secret and thusly blab it to Howard, Raj and Bernadette and then it would just be one big mess that she didn't want to have to clean up. But hell, she was used to taking risks and making stupid decisions…what was telling Amy this secret really going to do? She figured she'd throw caution to the wind one more time.

"Do you promise me not to say anything to anyone, especially Sheldon?", she asked, watching how Amy squirmed around a bit uncomfortably at the request. She knew that the neurobiologist wouldn't have an issue keeping this from Bernadette, Howard and Raj, but Sheldon? He was the wild card here. "Amy pleeeeeeease. Nobody can know what I'm about to tell you, okay? Especially Sheldon."

Amy pushed her glasses up and sighed, tapping her fingers rapidly on her knees. She didn't like the idea of keeping something from her boyfriend, but this was her best friend coming to her in her time of need. How could she say no to that? "All right. I promise not to say anything", she replied, holding out her pinky finger for Penny to take and pinky swear with.

"Okay then", Penny said, taking a deep breath. "On Valentine's Day, Bernadette, Howard, Leonard and I went out for a nice dinner that ended up not being so nice. Howard and Bernadette argued over husband-wife stuff, and I saw an ex-boyfriend propose to the bitch who took him from me…"

"And that lead to what…?", Amy asked, unsure of where this conversation was going and what exactly was so secretive about it.

"Leonard tried proposing again, and I shot him down before he could even ask", she said, watching as Amy mouthed 'oh' and shook her head, remembering the first time when Penny had told her that Leonard had proposed. She couldn't believe that he had tried doing it again, given the nature of the situation that was just described to her.

"So after that, we came back here and we talked it out…he was mad at me for basically ruining our evening, and gosh…I told him how freaked out I am at the prospect of being married forever, and then he told me that he promised to never ask me to marry him again…and then told me that if we wanted to get married, I'd have to be the one to propose to him", Penny finished off with, taking a deep breath and looking Amy straight in the eye for any kind of reaction to her confession. She kept her hands folded in her lap, her lips pursed together, debating on what the appropriate thing to say would be.

"Well…that's very…interesting", she replied, somewhat at a loss for words. "Not very traditional, but I think it could work, given the dynamic of your relationship with Leonard. I mean—"

"I'm seriously thinking about doing it."

That single statement stopped Amy from saying anything else. Shifting around on the couch to face her blonde headed best friend, her jaw hung slightly and her eyes grew wide. Where the hell did that come from, she wondered to herself. Was she kidding? She had to have been. There was no way someone could do such an about face when it came to a serious topic like this. But how would she know how Penny was currently feeling about the whole thing? There was only one way to find out.

"I…don't know what to say. Are you sure? I mean, only a few months ago, you were terrified at the notion of being locked down forever like that…why the sudden change in attitude?"

"It still does terrify me, Ames, believe me, it's still scary to think about. But…things have changed so much between me and Leonard, and so much of it is for the better", she said, seeing how Amy gave her a questioning look. "Like for example, a few years ago, if he had come to me with his proposition of being away on the North Sea for four months, I'd have told him that I wouldn't want him to go…I was selfish like that. But now…"

"Now…?"

Penny shut her eyes and sighed for a moment, running a hand through her long blonde mane. There was no other way for her to put it. "I love him so much. I want to be able to show him just how much."

Amy began to think, resting her hand underneath her chin as she let the words sink into her brain. After giving herself a moment to think about it, she broke the silence. "Well, how about this…you said that Leonard's gone for four months, correct?", she asked, getting a nod of the head from Penny. "Okay then. You only really started to develop these much stronger feelings for Leonard recently, right?", she asked once more, getting another nod of the head. "I say you take it month by month until he returns, then."

A confused look grew on Penny's face as she tilted her head sideways. "What do you mean, month by month?"

"What I mean is you should really, really think about this, bestie. Give yourself the time to warm up to it and weigh the many different outcomes of any decision. And, in four months, if you feel the way that you do now, then you should definitely go ahead and do it. And if not…then take your time. You know he's not going to rush you anymore."

Penny thought about it hard for a couple of minutes, silence engulfing the room. She racked her mind, tossing answers back and forth off of the walls of her brain before finally settling on one. Looking to Amy, she nodded her head and smiled.

"You know what…that's not a bad idea at all, Ames. I'll do just that…I can wait these four months, however painful without Leonard, and really think this all through."

"And we'll all be there with you every step of—", she trailed off upon hearing her phone ring. Pulling it out of her bag, she rolled her eyes as she accepted the call and pressed the device to her ear. "Yes, Sheldon? What do you mean you…you couldn't come across the hall and tell me this? No, don't worry, I'll be right over…"

She hung up and looked to Penny, who was trying her hardest to suppress a giggle. "Sheldon got a paper cut. I have to go…I'll talk to you later, bestie. And remember! Give it plenty of thought!"

She nodded and waved goodbye as Amy departed, sinking deeper into her couch. Amy was right. She had to think this through fully, see if this wasn't just a severe case of her missing the crap out of Leonard after only two days of him being away. She had four whole months to see where she stood, and she'd have her best friends there every step of the way to help guide her.

It still meant no Leonard for those four months. And no matter how positively she tried to spin it, it was still going to be hard on her heart.

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**And that's that for the first chapter! I hope you all enjoyed...until next time! =)**


	2. month one

**Hey everyone! Here's chapter two. I'm still working out the kinks with the whole premise of the story, but I plan on updating monthly and making sure this reaches a fulfilling conclusion. And with that, onto the new chapter! Enjoy! =)**

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"I need a double scotch on the rocks and a chocolate martini on the fly!"

"Yeah, gotcha, coming right up!"

Penny let a small grunt escape her lips as she lifted the heavy bucket of ice and poured it into the well where it needed to be. It was yet another busy Friday night at the Cheesecake Factory and she was starting to get swamped with all the drink orders that were coming in. The past few weeks had been like this, and for that, she was glad and grateful, because it took her mind off of the fact that it had been one whole month without Leonard, and also because it was helping pad her bank account and pay her bills on time. But mostly because, every other day, it gave her eight to ten hours to free her mind from not thinking about how lonely and sad she was becoming without her boyfriend around. Sure, they had been calling and e-mailing and Skyping whenever they could, but it just wasn't the same to her.

Finishing off the drinks she needed to make, another ticket came in and she groaned. Her ass had been getting kicked from the moment she set foot behind the bar today, and all she needed was just a few minutes to catch her breath and check her phone to see how many hours she had left in her shift. Thankfully, she saw the other bartender that was working with her and she flagged him down. She hadn't seen him in close to fifteen minutes and she was started to get mad that he wasn't taking this busy shift as seriously as she was.

"Where were you?", she questioned as he slowly started to make a margarita for a guest. "I've been back here getting killed! Were you trying to score with the new hostess again?", she said, her voice beginning to rise with anger.

"Lighten up, Penny", he said nonchalantly, which only irritated her more. "You're acting like if I don't get these drinks out on time, the world is gonna end tomorrow. You need to not take this so seriously."

For some reason, that one little comment pissed her off to no end. Who was this jerk to say that she didn't need to take her job seriously? Ever since Leonard had left a little over a month ago, all she really had was this job. She couldn't remember the last time she had hung out with the gang as a whole she was working so hard and so much. They had stopped by like old times whenever they could, but she had thrown herself into working like a mad woman again. She needed to. She didn't want to go back to downing a bottle of wine a night and watching those crappy comic book movies like Green Arrow (or was it Lantern?) that Leonard liked so much to remind her of what she was missing.

"You know what, you're right. I _do_ need to lighten up", she said sarcastically, a scowl forming on her face. She grabbed her phone and began to storm off, only stopping to turn and face her fellow co-worker. "Have fun back here. Call me when you're ready to actually ready to earn your money, you big air-headed jerk!", she yelled at him before finally walking away to somewhere where she could have relative privacy.

Once she was alone, she sat down and exhaled, fanning herself with her hand to cool down a bit. She didn't normally lose her temper like that when she was at work, but it had been happening almost regularly in the month since Leonard's departure. Amy and Bernadette had said something to the effect that she was trying to cope with the sudden loss of intimate companionship as best as she could, so that meant she was lashing out more often than not. It made sense to her at the time, even if she was a bit tipsy from too much wine, and it made sense to her now. Checking the time on her phone, she saw she had a missed call from Amy, so she decided to call back. That jerk could sink without her for a few more minutes.

"What up bestie", Amy said as she answered the call. Penny could hear muffled voices in the background, which meant she was probably with the whole gang. "How's work treating you on this lovely Friday evening?"

It was anything but lovely, she thought to herself as she smirked. "The same way it's been treating me lately, it's super busy. I just had to yell at another co-worker again though", she said, releasing a sigh, knowing what Amy was going to say next. "And before you say anything Ames, yes, I know it's only been a month, and yes, I shouldn't flip out as much as I do, but it's really hard when you work with people who make me feel like that Einstein dude!"

She could hear the laughter on the other end, and she suppressed a giggle as well. She needed a laugh right now. She also wished she could be with her friends, but work was work, and her rent was due in a few days, so there was no way she was gonna be late paying it. The sense of accomplishment she felt when she paid it on time last month felt really good to her, so she wanted to keep it up.

"So what are you all up to tonight?", she asked, knowing fully well that they were all probably at Sheldon and Leonard's apartment. At least that hadn't changed since he left.

"We're watching that movie with the whole group of superheroes, I don't remember what it's called", Amy replied back. "I personally find it to be somewhat boring except for the hunk with the hammer and the blonde hair, but if Sheldon enjoys it, then I can try to enjoy it too."

"Oh, it's called the Avengers and the beef cake you're referring to is Thor. I think we read one of his comics when the boys went to their little convention a while back", Penny said, stopping herself and giving her head a shake. _Where the hell did that come from?_ She could tell it also stunned Amy a bit that she knew that information. "Don't ask how I know that, it's Leonard's fault that he's rubbed off on me this much."

Penny looked at the time on her phone and realized she had been sitting down for a good twenty minutes, grinning at that fact. She figured now was as good a time as any to get back to work, the last thing she needed was her manager yelling at her for slacking off. "Well Ames, tell everyone I said hi, I gotta get back to work. I'll be around tomorrow if you and Bernadette want to do something, okay?"

"Will do and definitely, bestie. And remember, keep thinking about everything! It'll do you good. Bye now!"

She sat up and let loose another sigh. _'Damn it, Amy, now you've got me thinking about Leonard and my host of messed up emotions…',_ she thought to herself as she re-entered the restaurant and got back behind the bar. Almost immediately though, she was wishing she had stayed outside a few minutes longer.

"Hey Penny, there's someone sitting at the bar who asked for you", a fellow waitress said to her as she opened up a bottle of beer. "Is he a friend of yours?"

Penny looked for who the girl was talking about, but when she saw who it was, a feeling of dread overcame her and she felt a big ol' knot in the pit of her stomach. What was he doing here? More importantly, why?

"Um…yeah, I know him, but do you think you could take care of him? I don't really want to talk to him…"

"Penny!"

She groaned loudly at the sound of him calling her name. Making eye contact with him and flitting behind the bar, a tight smile spread across her lips, she came face to face with someone she wished would've just left her life completely when she told him to a few years ago.

"Hello Kurt. What brings you here?", she said as stiffly as possible. He was smiling at her, and a long time ago, it would have made her weak in the knees and melt on the inside, but now? Not so much. She wanted this little interaction to be over with as quickly as possible.

He didn't immediately respond; he just kept smiling. She found it to be a bit unnerving and awkward that he was just doing this, just smiling like a steroid infused hyena. Eventually, after a few more uncomfortable seconds, he shook his head as he perused through the massive menu her job had to offer. She was getting fed up with this quicker than she thought she would. "What do you want, Kurt?", she practically spat out at him, her voice laced with irritation.

"I can't believe that you're still here", he said, his eyes never leaving the menu. "I mean, it's been what, four, five years since we moved out here from that hick town in Nebraska? And you're still here, waiting tables and tending the bar?"

Penny wanted so badly to rip his face off right now. But she exhaled deeply through her nostrils and forced another tight smile onto her lips. "First of all, that 'hick town' is Omaha, which in case you forgot, is where I was born", she said sternly. "And second, so what if I'm still here? What are you doing? Last time I saw you before I kicked you to the curb again, you weren't doing anything."

He smiled again and god, did she really resist the urge to smack the crap out of him. "I'm actually a professional body builder now, thanks for asking. The money is great, I get to show off my bitchin' bod, and I get to travel the world and bang all sorts of beautiful women", he said in such a blowhard, vain, self-obsessed way, Penny gripped onto the metal tin she was cleaning for dear life, knowing she'd probably break a glass if one was in her hand. "That's just some of the perks though."

"Oh yeah? Sounds great. I'm happy for you. Now what do you want?", she asked more bitterly than before. She was doing everything she could to push him out the door. If she ever had to see his ugly stupid face again after tonight, it would be too soon.

"I want you to leave Pasadena and come travel the world with me. I want to be with you again, Penny."

If she was sipping on a drink, she'd have spat it out right at that moment. She had to have been hearing things, there was just no way he said what she thought he said. She gave her head a shake, as if she was trying to rid herself of cobwebs that weren't there. The scary part of it all was that there was actually…real, heartfelt sincerity in his voice. The last time she had heard that coming from him was a long, long time ago.

"I'm sorry, you wanna run that by me again Kurt?", she asked, genuinely stunned at his forwardness. Maybe she was hearing things; she had been working so hard and so much lately, she was starting to think her mind was playing tricks on her due to sheer exhaustion.

"Come with me, Penny. We can travel the world…I can show you things you've only dreamed about. And I know how much you like to dream", he said a bit too suggestively for her tastes. "Really, what's holding you back? What's keeping you here?"

Penny bit down on her tongue as hard as she could. She could tell he was trying to patronize her and the last thing she needed was her manager seeing her flip out and then firing her. But really, who did this jerk think he was? She knew he could be an ass, a colossal one at times, but this was a new level of stupidity for him. Once upon a time, if he had come to her with such a proposition, she would've jumped at the chance to do it and wouldn't have thought twice about it. She loved him that much. Boy, was she wrong about that one.

"I have a life here, Kurt. I have the best friends a girl like me could ever want. I don't completely hate my job. And", she said, saving the best for last. "I have the most wonderful, most loving boyfriend in the entire world. That's more than I could ever say about you."

She smiled at the little jab she threw at him and the somewhat frustrated look on his face. He shook his head and dragged his hand down his face, sighing. 'Good', she thought to herself. 'Maybe he'll just leave right now and never come back.'

"You're not dating that little geek, are you?", he asked her incredulously. When Penny didn't respond right away, he had the answer to his own question. "You've gotta be freaking kidding me, Penny. That nerd? Isn't his name Lenny or Lonny or whatever? What, you took pity on him or something? Come on, there's some catch, isn't there. You don't really like that dork, do you?"

Maybe it was the fact that she was in the middle of working her eighth day in a row, coupled with severe exhaustion, lack of sleep and missing the hell out of her boyfriend, on top of thinking about how she was going to go about taking their relationship to the next level, on top of the fact that the last man she thought she loved was sitting in front of her trashing the man she currently loved, made something inside her head snap. She was finally gonna give this douche a piece of her mind once and for all.

"Come with me, I'm not having this talk here in front of everyone", she said as she walked out from behind the bar and looked over her shoulder to see that he was indeed following her. After a few minutes of maneuvering through the crowded restaurant, the two of them were outside, in a secluded area of the parking lot, where no one was sure to hear or see them. That was when she decided to let him have it.

"Penny, c'mere, let me take care—"

"No, for once, you're going to shut up and listen to me. You have no right coming here to my job and acting the way you did. I thought that maybe, after not seeing you for as long as I have, you would've changed, but I can see, clear as day, that I was wrong. You're still the same jerk after all these years."

"Seriously—"

"I'm not finished!", she yelled. "I loved you Kurt. Or at least I thought I did. Do you realize how much you hurt me when you cheated on me? I lost all faith in the meaning of love for a long time because of you. I thought we had a life together! I moved out here with you because what I thought we had was real…but what I have right now with Leonard", she said, making sure to put emphasis on his name, "is what love truly is. He is the best thing to ever happen to me, I love him with all my heart, and one day…one day, I'm going to marry him and he's going to make an honest woman out of me."

"You can't be serious about wanting to get married to someone like him."

Penny walked up to him and smiled, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I am. I couldn't imagine being with anyone else. So to finally answer your question...no, Kurt, I won't leave Pasadena and travel the world with you while you dress up in man thongs and show off your fake muscles. I'm perfectly fine right here."

She let off a light laugh and then turned to walk away, leaving him in the dust. But a wicked, devilish thought crossed her mind, and she found herself turning on her heels to confront him again. Without saying a word, she smiled up at him, and then swiftly kicked him where the sun didn't shine, watching him crumple to the ground in a heap. "That's for cheating on me and wasting four years of my life!"

Walking away for good now, leaving her past heartache in the dust, Penny smiled to herself as she re-entered the building and threw herself right back into the flow of work. She could finally say with a straight face that she was over what Kurt had done to her. She knew how to love again. And while it didn't necessarily help her with the process of whether or not she was proposing to Leonard when he got back from the North Sea, it gave her a sense of closure…and it made her hopeful for the future.

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**And that's that. Hope you enjoyed it! Until next time! =)**


	3. month two

**Hey everyone! Sorry I took a little longer than usual to update this month, work has been a bit busier than expected. But I think I have the full direction of where I want to go with this story in the end. And so, with that, enjoy the new chapter! =)**

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_*Knock knock knock*_ "Penny!"

_*Knock knock knock*_ "Penny!"

_*Knock knock knock*_ "Penny!"

_'Ughhh'_, Penny thought to herself as she stopped vacuuming, taking a quick look around her apartment to make sure everything was clean from top to bottom. Well, as clean as she could possibly make it. She wasn't necessarily known for her cleanliness. Walking over to her door, she took a deep breath and, forcing a smile, opened the door for her favorite wack-a-doodle. "Hello Sheldon."

"Hello Penny", the physicist said, poking his head into the apartment to look around. "It's noticeably tidier than usual in here. Are you expecting company?"

Nodding her head, Penny flashed another smile, this time not as forced as before. "Yeah, I'm having Amy and Bernadette over, and after that, my dad's flying in from Omaha to come visit for the weekend so we can catch up on things", she said, shrugging her shoulders as she looked around her clean-for-now apartment. She couldn't remember the last time her floor wasn't covered with her clothes and magazines and the occasional empty wine bottle. She was proud of herself. Now if only she could keep it up on a semi-consistent basis…

Looking back to Sheldon, she saw that he was itching to say something, so she rolled her eyes and let him at it. "Yes Sheldon, what is it you want from me this time? I'll listen as long as you don't make me look for another ladybug in your ear again."

Giving her a peeved look, Sheldon shook his head and forced a smile of his own this time as he held out his bulky black Xbox controller, as if he was giving it to her as a weird, nerdy gift of some sorts. "What do you want me to do with this?", she asked before a thought dawned on her. "You need me to kill a spider in your bathtub again, don't you? How big is it this time?"

"There is no spider in my bathtub this time, Penny, but believe me, if there were, you'd be the first person I'd come running and screaming to. It amazes me how you can use those Nebraskan man hands and large mutant-esque feet of yours to kill spiders expertly but can't find any real usefulness for them…"

"_Sheldon_", Penny said irritably, growing tired already of his ranting and putdowns. "Tell me why you're here or I'm going to punch you in the throat."

Instinctively, he held his arm up to cover his Adam's apple in the event she did decide to follow through on her threat. "Right, none of us want that. Surely you're wondering why I presented my Xbox controller to you", he said, earning himself a blank stare from his neighbor. "The reason for me doing this is because it's Halo night!"

Again, all Penny could do was stare blankly at him. Blinking a few times, she shook her head to snap herself out of the trance Sheldon's words had put her in. "I'm sorry Sheldon, all I saw was your jaw going up and down, what did you say again?"

He shook his head, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "Good lord, it's no wonder why you—"

"Finish that sentence and I'll punch more than your throat, Sheldon", she warned, making him take a few steps back. "So yeah, it's Halo night, what does that have to do with me?"

"We need a fourth", he said tentatively. "With Leonard not around for the foreseeable future and Stuart unavailable because apparently meeting his psychiatrist and getting his medication refilled is more important than being a substitute for the group, I have selected you as the one to take Leonard's spot for tonight. Now what do you say, partner?", he asked, forcing out the last word. He looked like he'd rather be asking anyone else than her.

Penny allowed her mind to wander for a bit at the mention of her boyfriend. She was going on two months now without Leonard around, and to say that it was getting harder every day without him being there would've been a gross understatement. She didn't think she could miss him more than she already had been, but she was wrong. She was missing the living hell out of him, and it led her to work even more insane hours on top of the already crazy shifts she was currently working. She had little to no life anymore, and it was putting a bit of a strain on her connection with the gang. Which was why when she did have a rare day off, she cherished it and made plans.

"Oh, sweetie, as much as I'd love to blow your head off and chuck grenades at you all night long with the rest of the guys, Amy and Bernadette are gonna be here any minute to help me finish cleaning this place up for my dad so—"

"No, I see how it is, Penny. You're putting your own need for approval from your father in front of the collective need of the group. And by the way, no matter how much cleaning you do along with Amy and Bernadette, this place will never achieve the full level of cleanliness that it had when I did it for you", he said rather smugly, grinning that grin that made her want to really smack him sometimes.

"It was only that clean because you snuck into my apartment while I was sleeping!", she exclaimed, getting more and more irritated by the second. Thankfully, she saw Amy and Bernadette walking up the steps and found her out from continuing this conversation with Sheldon any further. The girls were giving Sheldon a funny look, as he still had his Xbox controller extended out towards Penny, and they shook their heads.

"Well it would appear your cleaning crew is here. I shall leave you be then", he said to no one in particular, turning on his heel to walk away, before stopping in front of Amy. "I'm disappointed in you", he then said, walking back into his apartment and shutting the door behind him.

"What was that all about?", Amy asked, looking bewildered as the girls entered Penny's apartment and took a seat on the couch.

Penny shook her head in disbelief at the whole thing. "He wanted me to take Leonard's spot and play Halo with him and the boys but I told him no and he's just crazy, you both know this", she said, a grin spreading across her lips. Crazy or not, she still loved that wack-a-doodle a whole lot. "No offense, Ames."

"Speaking of Leonard, how is he?", Bernadette asked as she got up off the couch and walked over to the kitchen, looking around for anything to help clean up. "How is it out there on the North Sea?"

Penny sighed, looking down at her feet. It was always hard talking about him, knowing she couldn't touch him or see him or kiss him, anything like that. She really wished these four months would end right now so she could be back in his arms and kissing him to death. "He's doing fine", she said in a tone barely above a whisper. "The weather out there has been bad the past few days, but he's getting through it. He misses me…he misses all of us and hopes we're all doing well. He can't wait to be home."

Amy began to notice the shift in mood for her bestie, so she quickly thought of a diversion and change of topic. "Hey, we don't have to talk about him right now. I know how hard it is for you to go about your existence knowing he's a long ways away."

"Are you still giving thought to whether or not you're going to—", Bernadette went to say before Amy held her hand up to silence her, to no avail.

"Yeah, of course I am", Penny responded back rather quickly. "I'm sure by the time he gets back, I'll know where I stand on the whole marriage thing. It's just a process, you know? One day I'm all for it, the next I'm finding myself terrified of the idea again…I'll figure it out. I have to. He's the man I love more than anything."

Amy stood up from the couch, clasping her hands together as she put on a brave face for her obviously saddened bestie. "All right, enough of this heartbreaking talk. Let's make this place look fabulous for your father when he gets here", she said, helping Penny to her feet.

"Yeah, your dad won't know what hit him when he gets a look at this place", Bernadette chimed in with, throwing two rags at Amy and Penny to clean with. "We'll make it so everything looks absolutely spotless!"

Penny smiled. She was so incredibly thankful to have two girlfriends like Amy and Bernadette. She wasn't sure how she'd be able to get through all of this without their help and bond

"Yeah, let's do this."

* * *

_The next day…_

Hearing a knock on her door (that thankfully wasn't followed by two more knocks and her name being called out), Penny smiled as she got up off her bed and walked to her door. Opening it, she was greeted by a face she hadn't seen in far too long, one she was very happy to see.

"Daddy!"

"There's my favorite Penny blossom", he responded with, grinning as he walked into his daughter's embrace and held her for a few seconds. "I can't tell you how good it is to see you."

"I can say the same thing, daddy", she said, letting him into her apartment. The two of them remained silent for a few moments as her father took in his surroundings, plopping down on the couch while still looking around, like he was searching for something. "You didn't need to clean everything up just for little old me, sweetheart."

"Well, I wanted to show you that I could clean up after myself. All the times you yelled at me to clean my room and take out the garbage, it had to settle in one of these days", she said with a giggle, taking a seat next to her old man, resting her head on his shoulder, much like she would when she was younger and still living in Omaha. "So, how was your flight out here? How is everything back home? How's Mom?"

"Penny, Penny, dear…relax. We have all weekend to talk about me, your mother and our boring life on the farm back home. I want to talk about you and—"

"Hey, so what do you want to do about dinner? Wanna go out? I know a really good steakhouse just a few blocks away from here that I'm sure you'll totally love", Penny countered with, wanting to avoid talking about Leonard at all costs. She knew just how much her father approved of him, and if he had any idea of what she was thinking about doing, she knew he wouldn't stop badgering her about it. Now was not the time for her to talk about this with him.

"That's great, sweetie, but how is—?"

"Or I can cook! I've become a lot better since the last time you came to visit me. And have you ever met my friends, Amy and Bernadette? I'm sure they'd love to meet you. Wanna meet them? You'll love them and—"

"Penny!"

She quieted at the tone of his voice. Wyatt shook his head for a moment, muttering under his breath to himself, before standing up and walking around the apartment, trying to find the right words to say for such a delicate situation. He knew his daughter was a bit evasive, to put it lightly, when it came to discussing her relationships with him, but he thought that had changed once she started dating Leonard again. He couldn't find a bad thing to say about that boy if he tried, and he knew just how perfect he was for his little girl.

He just wished that she would stop questioning her relationship with Leonard. There shouldn't even be any, as far as he was concerned.

"Now sweetheart, I understand that sometimes, for whatever reason, you don't want to talk about the boys you've dated and how those relationships went, and I get that. I'm your father and I don't need to know every single detail of your life. But Penny, _what is it_ about you that makes you want to clam up whenever I bring up Leonard?"

"It's nothing, dad. Don't worry about it", she whispered from her position on the couch, looking away from her father and at her front door. Just down the hall was Leonard's apartment. He should be home right now, not on some boat in the middle of the North Sea, where she couldn't see him and hold him and hug him and kiss him and tell him how much she loved him. She should be in his apartment, sitting on his lap, watching Star Wars or Star Trek, or doing whatever. He should be here. Right now, she was missing him more than ever.

And she still had two long, agonizing months to go…

"Penny, I know when you're lying. It comes with being a father", Wyatt said, sitting back down next to his daughter. "Now why won't you tell me what's going on with you and Leonard? The last time you mentioned anything about him, you said things were going great and that he was going on some trip or whatever…"

"Yeah, he's on an expedition with Stephen Hawking's group…I don't understand most of what he's doing out there so it must be important", she said with a tiny smile, remembering their conversation over dinner before he left, when he dropped the news. "I just wish I could go visit him, but he's on the North Sea…it'd be impossible."

"He'll be back before you know it though, sweetheart. It'll be like he never left at all", he reasoned as he put his arm around his daughter's shoulders and hugged her close to his side.

"That's what everyone is saying…it's only been two months but it feels like two years…"

"You really love him, don't you sweetie?"

All Penny could do was nod. She loved him with everything she had to offer. It felt really good for her to feel this again, after not knowing how it felt for a long time. But, like Kurt, that was in the past, and she was here in the present. "Yeah daddy. I really do."

It was then that she decided she might as well let Schrödinger out of the proverbial bag. Now seemed right. "Daddy, I want to tell you something that I probably should have told you last time you were here."

Wyatt raised his eyebrows and scratched at his chin as he sat up straight. His daughter had his undivided attention now. "And what would that be, sweetheart?"

Penny sighed and closed her eyes, remembering the night that, at least to her, changed a lot when it came to the dynamic of her relationship. A small, ghost of a smile traced across her lips as she thought about it. "Last year, right before my friend Howard went into space, Leonard proposed to me."

"He did **what!?**"

She had been expecting a response like that. "Yeah, he did. Except he did it in the middle of us…well, you know", she said sheepishly, still finding it a bit awkward to be talking about her sex life with her father. "I freaked out, but unlike previous times, I had the courage to tell him no and not break up with him afterwards."

"You said _no_? Why would you turn him down!? You know how good that boy is for you, Penny!", Wyatt exclaimed, unable to grasp that little tidbit of information. His baby girl had a chance to experience a moment every woman dreamt of and she shied away from it? It didn't surprise him that much, but still. This was Leonard they were talking about here. He was the best thing to happen to his baby girl in forever.

"I'm not done yet, daddy", she said calmly, taking a deep breath before continuing on. "He would keep doing it here and there…a lot of the time it was just the worst possible time…anyway, back on Valentine's Day, me, him, Howard and his wife Bernadette, we all went out to eat together at this really nice place that Leonard and Howard found. Right from the start it was bad…"

"How bad are we talking here?"

"Howard and Bernadette were arguing constantly, and then I saw an ex-boyfriend of mine with the bi…girl who stole him from me proposing to her, which in turn led to Leonard trying to do the same and I shot him down before he even got on his knee", she said, shaking her head at the memory of it. How far she had come since that night.

"So we came back here and we talked it out…I told him how happy I was but how freaked out I am at being married forever. So he told me that…well, he told me that he was done proposing to me, and he told me that when I was ready, I would be the one to propose to him."

"And you're seriously considering doing it when he returns."

Penny looked at her father with a shocked expression. It shouldn't have surprised her though. He always seemed to know what she was thinking, or what she was going to say. That's why she loved him, though. He knew her so well.

Watching his daughter smile and nod her head, Wyatt did the same before pulling her into his embrace. She was becoming a woman before his very eyes, and it made him damn proud to see the growth she was experiencing. She was going to make a wonderful wife and an even better mother when the time came, of this he was sure. "I say go for it, sweetheart. You obviously love him more than enough to wait for him to come back as opposed to other women in your position. You've done a lot of growing up, I see, and that makes me so proud. Follow your heart, and it won't steer you wrong. Leonard will make an honest woman out of you, and you'll both be great parents when the time comes. So again, I say go for it."

"Well…Amy said that I should think it through fully while he's away, but…"

Penny looked to her dad, who was smiling and had love and pride swirling in his eyes for her, his little Penny blossom. It made her feel like the best daughter ever, to make him feel like this. Hugging him and giving him a peck on the cheek, she placed her head on her father's shoulder and sighed contentedly.

"I think I'm one step closer to my decision."

* * *

**And that's that! Thanks for reading, hope you all liked it. Until next time! =)**


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